Page 38 of Muddled Magic

Marten was the first to obey, obviously wanting to settle the debt between them. Blood crusted his pant legs more than anyone else’s.

“Leave Sawyer alone,” I shouted.

“You, child, shall not utter another word,” my grandmother bellowed. “You have no idea what you’ve done, consorting with shifters and talking beasts and dragging that grimoire beyond the safety of the manor!”

My chin lifted defiantly. “I understand I’m due for the punishment of the century, but let it fall on me only.” I lowered the claw even closer to the emerald. “Let my friends go.”

“Those shifters—”

“Not them.” I knew Arthur and Lewellyn were watching me, gauging what I meant, but my gaze was only for the matriarch of the Hawthorne coven. “Flora, Daphne, and Shari.” The shifters had a better chance of survival against my family than my friends did.

Grandmother’s eyes flicked to the Crafting Circle ladies surrounding me.

Marten snorted. “The humans and the halfling.”

“Some witch you are,” Flora fired back. “Can’t even tell the difference between a gnome and a halfling. Guess your sister got all the brains, didn’t she?”

Uncle Badger snatched Marten’s shoulder as he lunged forward, hauling him back.

“Of course,” Grandmother answered me, spreading her hands like a queen about to graciously bestow a boon upon her vassal. “We will always honor the innocent. They may leave, if they promise not to interfere.”

“Now wait just a daisy-pickin’ minute,” Flora said. “Meadow’s our friend. You can’t—”

“Go,” I told them, not daring to take my eyes off my family, particularly my grandmother and mother, who was obviously still looking for a way to seize control of my cuffs before I could destroy the half-heart.

“I’m not going without Ame,” Shari declared stoutly. “That’s my cat. She keeps me and I keep her.”

The corner of Grandmother’s lips twitched. Then she sliced a hand through the air, severing the threads that suspended the magical spiderweb aloft. Ame yowled in surprise as the web spun, myriad strands appearing and cocooning her up in a bundle of glowing green silk. The wiggling bundle floated around to the side of the crystal barrier facing the deeper part of the woods, towards Weaver Lane.

“The enchantment will end when you have gone far enough,” Grandmother said.

“And how far is that?” Flora demanded.

“The magic knows. Now begone.”

“Here’s all your stuff back,” Shari mumbled to me, taking fistfuls of my bits and bobs she still carried in her sweater-sling and stuffing them back into my pockets. Daphne helped.

Scowling, the garden gnome used her glowing beechwood wand to adjust the crystal barrier to allow the ladies to leave one by one. She must’ve taken too long, Grandmother growing suspicious of her mutterings and the twinkling of her wand, for she snapped, “Shoo, gnome, before I change my mind.”

“Flora Ironweed,” that gnome retorted. “Best you remember my name, witch, because I won’t forget this.”

Shari plucked the glowing cocoon from the air, cradling it gently to her chest. Then she sent me a look full of apology and regret and shame and darted off into the woods. If she thought I viewed her as a coward for saving what was most precious to her and retreating, she was wrong. It was enough that the quiet crafter had had the bravery to show up in my defense in the first place.

Flora shot after her—surprising, since she always wanted to get the last word in—but Daphne lingered, clasping her hands over her shillelagh like it was a scepter.

“And I’ll be taking my dog,” she announced.

“Not a chance,” came the lashing reply. “Go.”

The elderly woman with the drop of druid blood in her was no match for Iris Hawthorne, and they both knew it. Yet Daphne still took the time to square her shoulders, adjust her floral shawl, and give the wolf shifter in the root cage one last fond look.

“Thanks for trying, my little banshee,” Lewellyn said with a rueful wink. “Walk away slowly so I can watch, okay?”

“Ugh,” Aunt Hyacinth groaned. “Shifters.”

When they were gone, Aunt Peony stepped forward and tapped her finger on the air between us. “They left the barrier up. I’ve never seen one so strong made out of simple crystals.” She looked down at me, wonder sparking in her eyes. “How did you—”

I gasped as that familiar tightness seized hold of my cuffs once more, locking me even tighter than before.

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